"So what'd I do to deserve the pleasure of your concern tonight?" Betty Graham asked, her words slurring as she spoke them. It had been a few minutes since they had left the party, the girl refusing to stand by Conrad after he had pulled her away from the event. So she walked ahead of him, the boy several steps behind but close enough to see that she was 1) shaking, 2) wobbling, 3) very drunk. He hadn't even realized she had gotten a beer bottle and brought it with her, the brown bottle peeking out from her right hand. He was kind of drunk himself, but not as much as he wished he was, his mind torturing him with the images of the night.

"You did that on purpose didn't you?" He answered her question with a question, her footsteps slowing as she furrowed her eyebrows. She tried to think of what he was talking about, trying to see if maybe she could make some sense of his question.

"Did what?" She came up with no explanation, Conrad catching up with her now that she had slowed down. His jaw was clenched like he was angry and she didn't like that, the girl grabbing him by his sleeve and pulling his attention to her. "Did what?"

She stressed the syllables of the word, the boy seeing a drunken rage that was just fighting to be ignited. It was now that he realized they had stopped on the sidewalk, his flannel balled into her free hand and the two of them facing each other. It was harder to say what he wanted to say now that he was gazing into her eyes, but he mustered up the courage thanks to  his bad drinking habit and said what he intended to say anyways.

"You let fucking Robbie be all over you...knowing I was standing there. Knowing I was watching you." The air between them changed at his admittance and she realized that deep below his bad mood was a boiling pool of jealousy, unwarranted jealousy, due to the fact that they weren't  romantically linked anymore. She looked up at him in confusion for a few moment before she shook her head, letting go of his shirt and taking a swig of the beer in her hand. She took off walking again and he followed her dutifully, extending his neck so that he could see her face as she answered.

"No, I didn't do it on purpose to make you mad but...if you are I can't help that. And if that's what you think then I also can't stop you." He didn't like her answer, how she put it back on him like she didn't know what she did to him. He felt a burning begin in his lungs and he felt the argument rise in his throat, and for a moment it felt like they had never parted at all, the same fiery passion moving to erupt from him.

"It's not what I think...it's what I know. You know what you do—you do it to make me jealous...to—to punish me or something." She scoffed at his quick remark, hurrying to effectively call him out.

"Punish—oh like how you parade Nicole around all the time. Today at the pool." Something deep inside him clicked when she admitted that it bothered her, and for the first time since he had seen her again he actually did believe that she cared.  He couldn't help but let the corner of his mouth lift with pride that he had earned a fitting reaction from her, his heart feeling like someone had pumped some kind of steroids directly into it.

"In my defense...I didn't know you were there. So you cant blame me for that." He said, gesturing to himself as she rolled her eyes. She took a long sip of her beer and then shrugged her shoulders, finding the ability to be some kind of bigger person.

"I don't blame you for anything...you can do whatever you want." Somehow he didn't believe her, and it frustrated him that she closed that caring part of herself away and instead put on this tough front. His head wasn't clear but he remembered this vividly...she was almost as closed off as he was. Her show of vulnerability on the beach  where she apologized had been a big deal...he understood that once it was over. She never did things like that. She was strong and she was tough and she was out of reach...her family had made her that way.

"I can do whatever I want?" He asked in the same breath that he dropped his hand, his heart palpitating when the back of their hands brushed together. He didn't know if she would answer what he said, it was too dangerous of a question. The edge in his voice had incited speculation that he was asking for some kind of permission, and Betty wasn't entirely sure if she was okay with that.

"I don't control you Conrad." She said in a fitting tone, using the vagueness to show her unsure intentions. He didn't even breath between her words and his response, the words falling out like some kind of accident.

"Yes you do." Except it wasn't an accident. He looked down at her with sure eyes and waited for her to look back at him, feeling like he might die if she didn't say something back in his favor. He kept looking until he realized maybe she wasn't going to say anything, his eyes going to the sidewalk in front of them as their footsteps filled the silence. Her hand shook as she lifted the bottle to her lips and she had only not answered because she didn't know what to say. What do you say to someone you're tethered to when the rope between you feels like it's tightening? What do you do when this is the closest you've felt in a long time?

"What are you doing Con?" She asked in a slow voice, biting at the inside of her cheek as she mulled over his words in her head. He was testing the waters, feeling out how far he could go before she would correct him...he had done this when they first started talking. When things first started. It was his thing...he enjoyed the chase and the game a little too much, but when the real thing happened he was willing to let the chase go and just be comfortable. But until then...it was his time to play.

"What are—what are you doing? I mean you show up this summer and you're everywhere. And I cant be mad at you because you're—-yourself...you.  But you're torturing me...being around constantly."

"I'll work on leaving you alone then." She said, and he groaned at her words.

"That's not what I mean. You know that. You know I want to be around you. You know I wanna see you everyday as much as I can. It's just torture that you're not—never mind." It was like someone smacked some sense into him, reminded him he was really speaking. His lips screwed shut and she just looked at him, blinking a few times and letting the feeling in her chest die down. She lifted the bottle to her lips and finished it off, letting out a sigh as she ran a hand over her face.

"I'm not doing this with you." She said, her lips pulled into a thin line as she looked over at him. He nodded, pushing some hair away from his forehead and still not speaking. Her face softened and she stopped, the boy stopping only a few steps ahead of her but not turning back to look at her. She let out a few heavy breaths and then swallowed hard, not ready to continue on just yet. "We can't do this Connie..."

"I know...I know." He said in a low voice, finally working up the courage to look back at her. There was a desperation in his eyes, and he spoke again. "But why?"

"Didn't you see how it turned out the first time?"

"We're different people. We're older. We're both going to college...things are different." He tried to reason with her, but she shook her head...he didn't seem to understand. She walked past him and he caught up again, his eyes straight ahead as their houses came into view. She felt a growing sense of dread in her chest the closer they got, and she knew he was right with what he had said...but she also knew it wasn't that easy.

"Who did you date after me? Other than Nicole." She moved to change the subject, her eyes glancing towards his face, running over his mouth. She felt a sharp pain in her chest and decided not to look at him again for a few moments.

"Uh...there was a girl—Aubrey. We broke up because of...you. But then I met Nicole and it seems like we're also going to break up because of  you." Betty shook her head, unable to wrap her mind around how he was so persistent and confident when drunk. She knew he would remember this in the morning, he remembered everything when he was drunk. She assumed maybe he was counting on the fact she would forget, she wasn't like him in that way...drunken nights got blurry. "What about you? Who were all the guys you dated?"

"Would it surprise you if I told you I haven't dated anyone?"

"Yes...that surprised me. What about hooking up? Who'd you hook up with?" Conrad asked as they approached her house, the boy intending on walking her home. He didn't believe her claims that she hadn't dated anyone, not until he saw the look on her face...feeling something between giddy and nervous.

"I haven't hooked up with anyone. Actually...Robbie was the first kiss I've gotten since you." She said truthfully, the boy looking at her even more surprised. She nodded, turning to look at him on the front doorstep of her house.

"Is he a better kisser than me?" Conrad asked, pushing shut out of his face and giving her a questioning look. She managed a small chuckle and shrugged, not knowing how to answer.

"I don't know...I don't really remember." She said, running a hand over the end of her hair to smooth it down as she looked at him. The corner of his lip turned up and he took a step closer to her, the girl unsure of what was going to come out of his mouth. His cool confidence continued to astound her, his words making a jolt in her heart.

"I could give you an example."

"How about I just go to bed instead?" It was hard to resist him, especially when he so blatantly proposed it. She wanted to, in fact she could almost taste his lips...she could almost feel them. His shoulder lifted and he shrugged, the two of them standing on her doorstep and looking at each other. His eyes glazed over and she watched as he dropped them over her face, dropping to her lips and then back up to her eyes. He shifted forwards the tiniest bit, the girl looking up at him as she swallowed hard, feeling like she couldn't move...like she was frozen. Her throat dried up when she realized he was getting closer to her, the tension between them too unbearable for him to wait any longer. Her eyes felt heavy and she started to close them, her stomach flipping when his hand lifted from his side, his fingers sliding up the side of her neck and slowly fitting into a good spot where his fingers knitted into her hair and his thumb rested on her throat. It felt inevitable, like there was no way it wasn't going to happen, Conrad using his thumb to push her chin up the slightest bit. He watched her all the way, all the way until they were breathing in the same batch of air between them. He made it all the way to the point where he had to lift his other hand to grab her by the hip, and he almost felt complete. Betty tilted her head slightly, fighting with herself to give in or to not. She sucked in a sharp breath and then looked down, Conrad feeling like someone had punched him in the chest when she stepped out of his grip. "I really should get to bed."

She knew what she was doing, of course she did. She knew exactly how to drive him crazy...she knew exactly how to make him want her more than anything or anyone else. He played his game and she played hers, and he despised her for being so good at it.

"Okay." He stumbled out, the girl pushing the door open. She remembered how drunk she was at that moment, her foot not lifting enough to get over the doorstep and her almost tripping into the house reminding her. Conrad was so entranced by her that he couldn't miss it, the boy hurrying to grab ahold of her. She tried to swat his hands away but he insisted on helping her, the girl struggling to get up the stairs and to her bedroom. She got up there and crashed on the bed, Conrad looking at her from where he was standing. She laid there for only a moment before he realized she was almost completely asleep, his head shaking as he looked down at her. He reached for her feet, pulling her shoes off for her and then covering her up with the blanket. He sat down at the end of the bed and then laid back, running a hand over his face as he tried to recover from what had just happened.